Cherry Falls: Serendipity
by Tina senpai
Summary: Why are there no Cherry Falls fanfiction? Anyway: What if Leonard Marliston, a quiet English teacher from the small town of Cherry Falls Virginia, had not murdered young teenagers due to the cruelty he had met at his mothers hands? What if, the quiet teacher had found a kindred spirit in the form of one of his pupils?
1. Butterfly

Chapter 1: A butterfly wing

_~Prologue~_

Leonard Marliston was dying.

Or he was dead, he was currently unsure exactly what was happening. He couldn't feel anything. He knew he's been shot. He knew that blood was seeping from the wounds in his body. And he couldn't move.

But everything felt slower.

Still.

And he thought.

He pondered how it had come to this.

He thought he'd gotten everything so right.

He had thought he'd finally beaten them all.

That the memories swimming across mind would stop.

But they didn't.

They kept rushing passed him in a blur, some on repeat.

And then he saw her.

The eyes in his mind that calmed him.

He'd never before known joy or happiness before he had met her. Her words drifting into his mind that were so much more wiser than he could have hoped to hear in his lifetime.

And he began to question his life as everything fogged over slowly, as if engulfed by a black, oozing liquid.

What if Leonard Marliston, a quiet English teacher from the small town of Cherry Falls Virginia, had not murdered young teenagers due to the cruelty he had met at his mothers hands?

What if, the quiet teacher had found a kindred spirit in the form of one of his pupils?

What if, the only true way to defeat the hate and blackness that festers inside of someone, is finding someone who would love them?

And then.

Everything reset.

~Cherry Falls, Virginia~

There is a girl who watches him when he doesn't look. Or at least, that's what Leonard likes to let her believe.

As he arrives at school, as he teachers his classes, as he eats his lunch and sometimes, even on the weekends when he's out shopping.

He can tell when she's watching him.

It's subtle, but it's there.

Sometimes, he'll catch a glimpse of her hurrying away or looking to the side of him, as if to push away certainty, but he knows she watches him.

He's had to deal with a couple of girls who have shown an over amorous interest in him. One found it thrilling, the idea of a secret liaison with someone in a position of power.

The other girl admitted that if it helped to boost her grade, she'd happily do it.

But this girl made no advance.

Nor did she flutter her eyelashes or dot her 'I's' with little love hearts. She was one of the top scoring students, always turning in her work on time, never getting into trouble.

She was a quiet little mouse he noticed.

When he wasn't doodling how each one of the kids would look, strung up in his classroom, in various grotesque poses, with their heads ripped out, or their organs pulled from inside to out, she was never there.

He didn't think it was important, but he could never quite imagine her with her neck snapped.

Instead, he would draw her eyes. And when he attempted to glorify the picture by drawing pins going into them, he would scribble over it furiously, claiming, that he disliked it.

The quiet girl who didn't bother anyone, but stayed perfectly quiet and good, bothered him relentlessly.


	2. Nothing is what it seems

Chapter 2: Nothing is what it seems

As the bell rang and the class got up to leave, Mr. Marliston turned around and bid the class a good lunch and promised to continue with their 'discussion' after class.

Hearing the expected groan from the majority of them, he plastered on his perfected fake smile for some, particularly the one girl who was with a couple of friends and had smiled back at him.

Jody.

His sister.

Of course, she didn't know it yet, but he did.

He turned away, his smile becoming real as he thought of the look on her face if he had told her exactly how his conception came about.

The look of horror playing in his imagination was priceless.

Perfect.

Clearing away the writing from the blackboard, he reached behind him to re-write a new paragraph he was planning to start after lunch, when he flicked his gaze back to the lone figure in their usual seat, high up, at the back.

Always seen, but never really noticed by others.

"If you need a hand with any homework I'll happily help you after school," he straightened himself up as he attempted to act as friendly as possible, "no need to waste your valuable free time here."

The girl sat erect in her chair, but dipped her head slightly, averting her gaze, though he had felt those eyes bore into him directly on numerous occasion.

"It's time for your Shakespeare class," She tried not to stammer, hiding behind her long hair, "I'd-I'd like to join. If that's alright."

Lucy.

That was her name.

"Lucy, right? Lucy, I'm glad you're showing an interesting in my club but," he threw out his arms, "I'm afraid, you're the only one to show an interest. It's been a couple of weeks, did you not have any curiosity before?"

Smoothing the hair out from the side of her face, but keeping her head low, she removed a book from her desk and held it up to show him.

"I've been waiting to buy this but they didn't have it in the shop at the time," she flicked a quick look at him, as if unsure she was allowed to, "I had to put an order on it and I only received it yesterday."

Leonard approached the table and held out his hand. She placed it carefully in his palm, as if it were a bomb that could go off at any moment.

He opened the pages and felt the spine.

There were few perfect things in this world, Leonard believed that one of those things was an old book.

And not just old, but a book that had obviously been read over and over again, before being placed out of the way somewhere, in fear it would fall apart.

"We have better cared for ones in the library," he handed her the book and noticed the way she almost hesitated, "you wouldn't have needed to fork out your money."

"No, it's ok, really, I needed to," she took a breath as if gaining courage and brushed the cover with her hand, "my other one got...lost and I needed to replace it anyway. This way, this is mine to keep and do with as I please. I won't feel guilty if anything happens to this one."

Leonard had wandered back over to the desk and was now leaning against it.

He enjoyed discussing Shakespeare, and if the girls scores were anything to go by, then she should be at least adequate enough for him to discuss it with without having to constantly correct her.

And correcting people was both fun and infuriating. He could happily laugh about it whilst picturing their necks snapping in his hands.

"Lucy, why aren't you out with your friends?" Leonard cleared his throat and tried not to imagine the pictures flashing in his mind, as if someone had a camera of polaroid' in his head.

Lucy gazed up at him from beneath her lashes.

"I don't have friends." She said matter of factly. No bitterness, or anger, or even regret in her voice.

"Well what about Sandy?" He edged his way around his desk and tidied up his files, careful that the grotesque images where hidden, the ones he'd been specially doodling today, "she talks to you all the time during class."

"Sandy likes to tell me things that aren't true. She talks to remind me I'm unimportant." Again, she said this matter of factly, as if this was a normal thing to deal with.

"I'm sure that's not true. I'm sure you and her just have a misunderstanding." Not really wanting to get caught up in a 'bullying' talk, he tried to think of ways to steer the conversation elsewhere.

"Sandy hates me."

"No one hates anyone."

Without missing a heartbeat, she continued.

"She threw my clothes in the garbage outside the girls changing rooms and threw rats in at me when I showered."

Although this thought amused him, a good torture method to put into one of his drawings, he restrained the smile and played at being the 'concerned teacher'.

"And I understand, rats are nasty creatures, you must have-"

For the first time since chatting, Lucy made a sudden move, pushing her body forward in her seat and looking directly at him.

"No. I love rats. I just didn't want to hurt them if I slipped over in the shower."

"Oh." Was all he could say. That certainly had been a surprise.

A few moments of awkward silence passed and when she suddenly picked up her bags and stood up, he thought she may change her mind and run out of the classroom for yelling at a teacher, but instead, watched as she moved down a step and towards the centre of the seats.

She didn't look at him again for a while but clutched her book tightly in her hands.

"Can I ask, do you set what we talk about? Or can we openly discuss it?"

Leonard was indeed amused by her boldness. Maybe there was more to this quiet little mouse than he thought?

"Do you have a good recommendation?"

"It depends."

"Oh?" He placed his hands together and leant forward against the table, "How so?"

For a split second, he thought he saw the ghost of a smile across her mouth, but then it was gone and she stared at the cover of her book, as if going to a deep place in her mind.

"You said we'll be studying Macbeth later on and the underlining meanings of his speeches but...what about Lady Macbeth?"

"We will be studying her in context to his speeches also? Such as the 'Tomorrow' speech."

"No, I mean, why not study her? Why not study the females of Shakespeare?"

"Do you believe that the set list of studies for this year may be biased due to gender?" He suddenly felt a small part of him groan at the thought of having to point another feminist student in the way of the school principal to complain to.

"Not at all, but...behind some of the greatest Shakespearean male characters, there is a female. Macbeth. Othello. Hamlet. Lear. But whether the story be a comedy or a tragedy, there's always a woman involved. Somewhere. Somehow."

"Women in Shakespeare can be the greatest downfall to characters."

"Men make their own decisions." A bold statement but she continued, "The characters themselves are not forced.

Othello was manipulated by someone he considered a friend.

Hamlet was hell-bent on revenge and used anyone to get his way.

And Macbeth...," she trailed off and bit her lip, casting a wary glance at him.

"Go on." He was actually eagerly interested to hear her interpretation.

"Macbeth already knew what was to happen. He wanted it to happen.

Yes, his wife encouraged him to kill, but she did it because she loved him. She wanted to see him become King." She stared from the book to him again, hoping that he couldn't read her mind.

"'Too full o' the milk of human kindness.' She belittled him. His courage, his manhood."

"She designed the murder, yet she was not the one who broached the matter."

He was getting more and more responses out of her than he'd ever seen in his teaching career.

"And yet, most people would argue that Lady Macbeth is the villainess of the play. She openly declares she would commit infanticide if she had promised it to her husband. And that she calls up the spirits, which means-"

She put up her hand in frustration.

"I know! It's just...sorry. I'm sorry." She hurriedly looked away and this time, when she gathered her bags and stood, she really did head for the door, "I didn't mean to interrupt you or argue."

Leonard, moving quicker than he had done for a while, blocked her path. He stared down at her, willing her to look, but her eyes bore into his tie.

"The interruption was not part of an argument, merely a side of your debate that you wanted to get out. Please, Lucy I really am interested to hear your take on it."

"Really?" She flicked between his face and the tie, still unsure.

"A healthy debater is always good to eliminate the boredom from the mundane."

She paused and he thought had scared her off.

"...Can I...I need to go eat my lunch, so can I stay back tomorrow?" She looked up at him with wild eyes, as if she was a deer and he was a hunter.

"Of course."

She gave him what he thought was her attempt at a small smile, but she rushed past him before he had a chance to make it out.

Now, left alone in his classroom, he pondered.

Leonard. Carefully setting up notes for the 'Club', which was a debate he was looking forward to. He was so busy drawing up notes, he'd completely forgotten his stack of classwork, that had the lazy scribblings of a mad man.


	3. Transfiguration

Chapter 3: Transfiguration

Three weeks had passed. Usually, within three weeks, Leonard felt like tearing out someones eyes after a new chapter or book or assignment had been started. But as each day passed, he found himself looking forward to the small meetings at lunch.

He had even gotten her to read 'Anthony and Cleopatra', one of his favourites.

And he hadn't noticed it until now, but the gradual position of her desk and chair had changed from sitting across from him, to pulled up right against his desk, so she was a whisper away.

She was so close, he could have grabbed her by her throat.

And he thought about it a couple of times.

Grabbing her by her throat.

Frightening her and watching her struggle.

He wondered if her parents cared where she was?

But then, he'd shake himself out of his daydreaming and carried on with their conversation and 'studying'.

Truth be told, he'd only set up the club as a way to gain a closer perspective of the kids lives. He'd hoped that a couple of 'troubled' souls would begin to gossip, but just about their lives, but about the rumours that were going around.

Who was dating whom?

Whose parents were getting a divorce?

And for some reason, he wanted to know exactly who in his class were virgins.

He needed to know this information. He didn't know why, he just did. He wanted to know so he could...do something. Something insane.

But now, with her, it was definitely some unexpected.

"Oh damn!"

The sudden proclamation from her had him come back to his senses and he looked up from his own text to see her burying inside her bag.

"I'm so sorry Mr. Marliston, I left my book in my locker!" She stood up and dropped her bag back down, "I'll be as quick as I can, sorry!"

"Take your time, it's no rush," He smiled at her and he found, it was completely fake, "it's not like we're keeping anyone waiting."

Lucy smiled at him and tucked her hair out of her face before rushing passed him and hurrying off out of the classroom.

Leonard had noted, that when she brushed the hair out of her face, she'd had another bruise on the side of her neck.

His insides burned in anger at the thought of her 'necking' with one of the hormonal teenage boys from class.

He blamed it on the filthiness of the act and how she may not have been as innocent as she had seemed.

Loud noise from outside made him stand up and he went over to the window, checking to see if he could catch any of the young kids smoking a cigarette during lunch where not one kid would have lurked around the hallway and been planning the big party that Sandy had been planning for the weekend.

As he came closer, he recognised the voices of Rod Harper and his 'best friend' Mark.

"We're gonna' do it." Rod gloated to Mark and his whispered tones told Leonard that this was not something Rod had wanted overheard somewhere public.

"Dude, how do you know Stacy is gonna' go for it? You've told me that she's been freezing you out whenever it comes to that." Mark said, not bothering to whisper, but the clattering of his locker was much louder than his voice as he hurriedly stuffed in food wrappers that threatened to spill out.

"I know man, but I've been breaking her down you see," Rod quickly slipped some gum into his mouth, getting rid of the smell of junk food which Stacey hated, "every time I get closer to her, she hesitates more and more. I tell you man, if it's not this time, it's definitely gonna' be next time."

"So how you gonna' get her to do it?" Mark shut his locker and put his jacket on, knowing that girls digged him in leather.

"I dunno', I was gonna' take her out in a few nights. See what happens. Plus, my secret weapon. I'm gonna'-shit, it's the weird kid. Come on."

As the boys moved away from the door, as their footsteps tittered off, another set grew louder towards the classroom, and a few moments later, Lucy came back in, smiling that aggravating smile, that a few minutes ago, Leonard had been smiling at.

Now, he just felt like smashing her teeth in.

The rest of the break had gone by in a blur.

He'd told her to read and when the bell rang, she tided away her book and the rest of the classroom had slowly slumped into class, everyone chatting mindlessly to their friends.

The drawings sat as he told them to keep their heads down and answer a pop quiz he'd been storing for a rainy day.

Really, now, he just needed to scribble at his drawings.

Soon enough, three sessions and different classes later, the bell rang once again and everyone hurriedly spilled out of the class.

No, 'have a good day'. No, 'study hard class'.

Instead, he made his way over to the store room window, where he could just see the front of the school steps.

He waited as Jody came into view, parting from her friends.

And he saw them.

Jody and her father.

His father.

She hugged him and graciously hopped in the car, a family out-ting planned for his day off.

An almost picturesque portrait.

And suddenly, those familiar words and voices came rushing back to him. He could hear them all, whispering and shouting, some louder than the others. He could hear his mother recounting her story to him, telling him exactly what fate had befallen her.

"Mr. Marliston?"

He broke out of his thoughts and saw what his hands had been doing.

In the storeroom, he'd discovered a rat. But instead of killing it, he'd put it in a box on the side. He sometimes put his hand in the box with food and let the rat out of it, sometimes being able to stroke the little tuft of hair on the rats head.

Now, his hand was around the rats neck in a tight grip.

He let the creature go hurriedly and saw, whilst it wasn't completely dead, it's frenzied breathing showed the creature had definitely been harmed by his anger. And he hadn't even felt it's fangs or nails as it bit into his skin.

"Mr. Marliston, are you here?"

Lucy.

He grabbed the handkerchief from his jacket pocket and tied it around his hand, before hurrying out of the room and desperately trying to remain calm and rational.

"Lucy, schools over, what are you doing here?"

His voice shook with anger and he felt like punching himself for sounding so stupid.

"I just...I know it sounds silly, but I wanted to see if you're ok," Lucy smiled at him and he felt like going over there and breaking her jaw, "you seemed a bit distracted during the Shakespeare and during class as well."

"Distracted? Nonsense, I was fine," he tried to reign in his anger, but something else had taken control, something he didn't entirely like, "Are you saying you weren't impressed by my lesson Lucy?"

"N-no, that's not it at all-" she begin to stammer, but stopped and jumped out of her skin when he slammed his bandaged fist down on the table next to him, "you're hand. Are you ok? Do you want me to get the nurse?"

He was furious.

He didn't want her hear.

He was angry and had physically made himself jolt the fear into her, but still, she didn't run.

"No, you know what you can do Lucy," he took three steps towards her, more fury burning through him when she stepped back, "you can go home and mind your own business. And if my teaching is unsatisfactory, maybe in the future you can keep your god-damn mouth shut and just pay attention and be grateful I'm teaching you at all!"

The air around him seemed to be thicker, his breathing coming quicker and quicker, until his heart had threatened to burst out and rebel.

She stood there, staring at him and her whole body seemed to shake.

"I'm sorry." She eventually croaked out and turned, running as fast as her legs would carry her, her footsteps echoing down the hall as they quickly disappeared from his hearing.

But not from his mind.

His anger was gone.

He felt...strange.

Hollow.

And yet, there were the voices again.

'It's ok.'

'Time is at hand.'

As he made his way towards his desk, he pulled away the fabric from his hand and watched the blood begin to slowly drip down his wrist, onto his paperwork.

Using her fingertip, he painted a smiley face on one of his doodles.

A nice addiction to the family.

Looking at the furious scribbles, he saw them coming together and a plan begin to hatch.

"Let's be Sacrificers."

'Not butchers.'


End file.
